An official source within the Sadr movement, the Iraqi Islamist national movement led by Muqtada al-Sadr, is insisting that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei of Iran has declared the protesters in Syria to be “God’s enemies,” ordering the Revolutionary Guards and Lebanese Hezbollah to fiercely combat the protesters in Syria and enter into an armed battle with them.
In an interview with Al Arabiya, the source, who wished to remain anonymous, revealed that Ayatollah Khamenei held a covert meeting in Tehran with commanders of the Revolutionary Guards, representatives of the Syrian embassy, members of Hezbollah, and leaders of the Sadr movement. There, he demanded that all operational and logistic forces be applied in order to stamp out the blaze of sedition in Syria and to destroy those who are enemies of God in that country.
Experts have construed Ayatollah Khamenei’s comments regarding Syria as a form of religious fatwa, which has a direct effect in spreading terror and insecurity in Syria, increasing Iran’s role in destabilizing Arab countries.
What’s more, according to the website Green Voice of Freedom, an informed source inside President Ahmadinejad’s administration revealed that the deputy chief of Iran’s National Police, Ahmad-Reza Radan, was part of a security delegation that visited the Syrian capital two weeks ago amidst the intensification of repressions against anti-government protesters in Syria.
Radan was a key figure in the brutal suppression of the Iranian protesters following the June 2009 elections in Iran.
During recent months, Arab countries have complained repeatedly of Iran’s meddling in their internal matters. Mahmoud Abbas, the head of the Palestinian Authority, has also repeatedly called for a boycott of the gatherings held by the Iranian regime, which he has described as a method of deceiving the public both in Iran and the Islamic world.
Various representatives from Palestinian, Lebanese, Yemenese, Bahraini and Iraqi groups are said always to be in training from the relevant political and military strata in Iran.
Ever since the Islamic Revolution in Iran, Syria has proven a staunch ally to the radicals ruling Iran. It has also provided a passageway for the Revolutionary Guards into Lebanon and the Palestinian territories, arming Hezbollah and Hamas.
The Revolutionary Guards also have several bases in Syria, where they train and arm militias in the expansion of their terrorist activities in the region and beyond.
The Obama administration has substantiated charges of Iranian complicity in Syrian repression. On April 26, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice announced that the United States had evidence of active Iranian support for the Syrian government’s suppression of the peaceful demonstrators.
For its part, the Syrian opposition has also claimed that members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards have participated in the shooting and killing of the Syrian protesters. (See exclusive video of Syria’s uprising here.)
But the leaders of Iran know full well that they have the power to prevent the opposition from succeeding. The fall of Bashar al-Assad’s government in Syria could be a devastating blow to the policies of the radicals in Iran and its proxies in the region, and the mullahs are determined not to let that happen.
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